


Like Riding a Bicycle

by orphan_account



Category: Castle
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-22
Updated: 2012-03-22
Packaged: 2017-11-02 08:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/367194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>His mother knows how to handle a gun.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Riding a Bicycle

**Author's Note:**

> After that absolutely tiny and extremely vague hint in _Linchpin_ , I reserve the right to speculate… Fits in with a previous drabble, [Deleted Scenes](http://archiveofourown.org/works/367177), but it's not necessary to read that one to understand this one. 
> 
> Written for callsign_buzz for the Gift-Giving Gala at Castleland.

His mother knows how to handle a gun.  

 

It's not something he's aware of, not until the Johanna Beckett murder conspiracy blows up in his face.  He hadn't considered that they'd come after his family ( _stupid fool_ ), and when it happens he isn't prepared.  Neither is Beckett.  One moment they're relaxing on his sofa in an after-dinner lethargy, waiting for Alexis to choose a flavour of ice cream for dessert.  The next they are surrounded by masked men with guns.  

 

The barrel of a gun presses against his daughter's forehead and her eyes are wide with fear.  Beside him Beckett is tense, no doubt regretting that her own weapon is tucked away in his safe.  He is frozen in fear, eyes fixed on Alexis's terrified stare.  It's barely a few seconds but it feels like an eternity.  

 

His eyes are drawn to movement as his mother appears in the doorway to his office, clutching Beckett's gun.  Calmly and without a hint of drama she takes down the man holding Alexis with a single shot.  

 

The SWAT team is bursting through the door before the man has hit the ground.  In the ensuing chaos Castle is too wrapped up in his own guilt and Beckett's recriminations and Alexis's hysteria to make sense of what he has witnessed.  

 

It's only later that it strikes him as odd.  The dust has settled and official statements are being taken at a Police Precinct (not the Twelfth; a blessing and a curse).  Beckett has forgiven him, granting him absolution and a clasp of her hand before stepping away to get them all some coffee.  Alexis is leaning against his shoulder and his mother sits beside him, her hand on his knee.  

 

He studies her slender fingers while around them cops share information.  

 

_...unsecured bathroom window..._

__

_...home invasion..._

__

_...burglary gone wrong..._

 

They're wrong, but he's in no state to correct them.  His mind is replaying the scene, struggling to make sense of the one moment that confuses him.  He has a habit of dramatic embellishment (hazard of the job) but he's pretty certain his memory is accurate.  He watched his mother facing down a gang of armed man.  She held the weapon steady, clasped in her right hand and supported by her left.  Her feet were braced in an isosceles stance as she squeezed the trigger once, hitting her mark perfectly and not flinching from the recoil.  

 

She knew what she was doing.  

 

It's probably nothing.  A lucky shot.  Adrenaline helping (grand)mama bear protect her cubs.  Maybe she learnt the stance for a role or an audition.  If not for the cryptic words of a now-dead CIA agent he might not even have noticed.  

 

He'd be lying if he claimed not to have wondered what could have happened next.  If Beckett hadn't managed to summon backup through covert use of her phone...  If the SWAT team hadn't entered at that precise moment... 

 

He will not speculate.  

 

And yet his mother handles a gun like she's experienced at using one.  

 

He can't help but wonder.  

 

**End**


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